Just upgraded my Apple TV from the standard 40 GB HD to a 160 GB HD. Everything backed up and restored fine from my 40 GB and did the factory restore to recognize the full size of my 160 GB HD. I'm upgraded to ATV 2.0 software fine. ATV boots fine with the bottom off of the unit, just the HD attached. When I try to mount the drive back on the bottom metal plate and boot the unit, I get the flashing ? issue. I've tried restoring several times and still can get the unit back together without the flashing ?. I'm starting to think it's some weird grounding issue with the drive & mounting screws & bottom plate.

Anyone else ever seen this issue? If so, any recommendations on resolving this one?

BTW, I've done my upgrade without iPartition. I'm using diskutil, GPT and DD in terminal to get the job done. I'm fairly certain, I haven't muffed anything here as the unit works fine until I try to put it back together.

I don't have an ATV but, it sounds like your pinching the HD connecting cable or something, with the ATV on, have you tried to replace the bottom of it? It's risky but, you may be able to pin point the issue that way.

First off, you need to check the IDE cable and make sure that it's properly seated. I would also check all of the pins on the hard drive and the connector down on the motherboard. You also need to fold the cable neatly like it was. You could have it pinched or be pulling it off the connector when you put the two halves together. The cable could also just be damaged. By the way, did you put the green rubber pad and little square shielding pad from the original drive on the new drive? If not, you probably should.

First off, you need to check the IDE cable and make sure that it's properly seated. I would also check all of the pins on the hard drive and the connector down on the motherboard. You also need to fold the cable neatly like it was. You could have it pinched or be pulling it off the connector when you put the two halves together.

I was ready to head to my dealer and do the "What? Open the case? Why would I have done that? No it just started flashing, seriously. Stop staring at me... say something... please."

That cable seems to be a weak link for sure. There are many people getting the Flashing Question Mark, thinking it's the ATV Hard Drive, when in fact the Cable is the Problem.

When you open the ATV up, they make the cable long enough to work with, but because it is a bit too long, it gets Folded & Creased. That plastic Crimp plus the Heat Inside, can cause it to become Weak. At least that's the way it looked in my ATV. And I know my Cable is bad.

And from what I read, you cannot just replace it with a Standard IDE 44 Pin Female to Female Cable.
Also they are not available anywhere except on eBay for like $30. And these are ones pulled out of old Apple TVs.

I also thought it was a grounding issue, but even when the hard drive is out of the case, if you have a bad cable & wiggle it, your Apple TV will Freeze. That's how I found out it the Cable was bad & it was not a grounding issue. Mine did the same as yours. Once I put it back in the Case & closed the box, I got the Flashing Question mark again.

Check this out! I Jimmy Rigged the IDE Cable inside my ATV & the Box is closed & working fine so far. What I did was I took Thick Black Gaffers Tape. (the type they use on Movie Sets & Stages), and wrapped it neatly around the ATV & then pressing down & ironing out the creases with my fingers. Lastly I screwed the Hard Drive to the casing & then closed the box up. Well it's running. I don't know for how long but it's running & it looks better. My IDE cable probably had one intermittent spot where it was not making contact, so I think I got lucky. Again, how lucky & for how long, I don't know. Worse come to worse there is a place on eBay selling the authentic ATV IDE cable for $29.95 Just thought I'd let you know._________________iMac 27" 3.06 8GB ATI 4670 1TB HD
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